Hi, Welcome to the 2016 World Chess Championship coverage.
Fellow RHP blogger HikaruShindo (our man in New York ) has sent
us some pictures so we can get a flavour of where they are paying.
The event is being held in the Fulton Fish Market
So you go to New York, look for one of these.....
....and follow the directions. (or follow nerdy looking guys.)
The playing venue. Look for queue of nerdy guys standing outside.
This is the door the players will be going in and out of at the venue.
and this HikaruShindo assures me...
...is the feed from the playing hall to the internet which HikaruShindo was going
to tap into so we could get the live moves in case Agon was successful in banning
all live transmissions. They failed when U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled
Agon had no right to block chess sites from disclosing the moves of each game.
Official Time Control: The time control for each game shall be 100 minutes for
the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the
rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.
Karjakin and Carlsen on a barge in Amsterdam 2006
The actor Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers, White Men can't Jump)
turned up and played the first move. Apparently a new 'celeb' will be
there at the start of every game to kick it off. Carlsen said that his
opening move was 1.d4 and after 1...Nf6 the opening went into a Trompowsky .
Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin. 2016 World Championship Game One.
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 {Karjakin has faced this twice before, in the past he has played 2...Ne4 and 2...e6. today he played....} 2... d5 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 {Capturing towards the centre rather than keeping the pawns intact. Both moves are deemed OK.} 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Bb5 e6 7. c4 dxc4 {The Black King will find sactuary a bit draughty so Carlsen decides to keep the Queens on the board.} 8. Nd2 Bxc5 9. Ngf3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 {This moves takes the sting out of the game. Carlsen will win his pawn back. Karjakin is not interested in holding onto it it. He is forcing exchanges.} 11. Rc1 Be7 12. Qc2 Bd7 13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Qc3 Qd5 15. Nxc4 Nxc4 16. Qxc4 Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 Rxc4 19. Rxc4 {Carlsen was probably feeling happy here.. He has a good Knight and pawn targets. The type of position everyone knows not to get v Carlsen.} 19... Rd8 {White now needs luft for his King but....} 20. g3 {In hindisght not enough luft. 20.g4 holds up the f-pawn which keeps Black's Bishop hemmed in.} 20... Rd7 {Holding the 7th rank. It's still not too late for g3-g4.} 21. Kf1 f5 {And now the Bishop is just as good as the Knight.} 22. Ke2 Bf6 23. b3 Kf8 24. h3 h6 {The Knight sets off trying to create or sniff out a weakness.} 25. Ne1 Ke7 26. Nd3 Kd8 27. f4 h5 28. a4 Rd5 29. Nc5 b6 30. Na6 Be7 31. Nb8 a5 32. Nc6+ Ke8 33. Ne5 {The Queenside pawns were disturbed but nothing one can get one's teeth into.} 33... Bc5 {It's now looking pretty drawish.} 34. Rc3 Ke7 35. Rd3 {Carlsen swaps off Karjakin's better Rook. It's a peaceful jesture.} 35... Rxd3 36. Kxd3 f6 37. Nc6+ Kd6 38. Nd4 Kd5 39. Nb5 Kc6 40. Nd4+ Kd6 41. Nb5+ Kd7 {Small mind games from Karjakin. He declines the first three fold rep.} 42. Nd4 Kd6 {Draw agreed. Carlsen won't mind this waste of the White pieces. I'm sure he has other White surprises up his sleeve but this draw has allowed Karjakin's nerves to settle.}
TigerTony41 is another RHP man in New York and he has sent us some pictures.
The media interviewing folk outside the playing venue.
Inside the venue and the room with the demonstration screen.
The Brooklyn Bridge as viewed from the playing arena.
Game 2 will posted soon with more pics from Tony and HikaruShindo
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 170765